OVER 18,000 individuals are learning Welsh, according to the latest official data published by the National Centre for Learning Welsh today (27 March 2025) – the highest number of learners since the Centre took responsibility for the Learn Welsh sector in 2016.

During the 2023-2024 academic year, 18,330 people completed the Centre’s courses – an increase of 8% compared to the previous year, and an increase of 45% compared to the first official data published by the Centre for the 2017-2018 academic year, 12,700.

The increase in learners reflects developments within the sector. As well as the face-to-face and virtual courses held in communities, new, pioneering schemes for different audiences, including the Health and Care sector, and young people, are now available.

There has been significant growth in the Health and Care sector, with a Learn Welsh tutor based in every health board, specific schemes for specialties such as Palliative and End of Life Care and Psychiatry, short self-study courses and Confidence Building courses.

The data for 2023-2024 shows more young people aged 16-25 are learning Welsh. A total of 2,635 young learners completed the Centre’s courses during 2023-2024, an increase of 21% compared to the previous year, and an increase of 274% compared to the first year of publication of age in 2018-2019.

The vast majority of all learners (84%) are within the working age group, 16-64.

The majority of learners (76%) follow tutor-led courses, whether face-to-face or in virtual classrooms, and there is an increase in the number of learners following courses at Intermediate and Advanced levels, as well as courses for beginners.

Mark Drakeford, Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Welsh Language, said: “The enthusiasm of the Learn Welsh sector and the increase in the number of people learning the language is an inspiration, and a source of pride for us all.

“The National Centre for Learning Welsh has been a strategic partner to the Welsh Government since it was established, and inspections by Estyn have recognised the Centre’s expertise in the field of language learning and acquisition.

“The Centre has led on major changes within the sector, introducing a curriculum aligned with the European framework, the CEFR, and planning and extending its activities in order to welcome new audiences to the Welsh language.

“Cymraeg belongs to us all, and the Centre makes an all-important contribution in terms of normalising the use of the language and supporting the ambition to increase the numbers who can speak, use and enjoy the Welsh language.”

Dona Lewis, Chief Executive of the National Centre for Learning Welsh, said: “Everyone in the Learn Welsh sector can take pride in these latest figures, which tell a story of growth and success, and I’d like to congratulate all our learners, tutors and the extended workforce.

“I’d also like to thank the Welsh Government for its support of the Centre as we’ve extended our services, building new partnerships which have led to flexible learning programmes for specific audiences. These exciting developments have enabled the Centre to welcome more people to the Welsh language.

“The Centre’s language learning and acquisition expertise is key to our learning activities. The national Learn Welsh curriculum, developed by the Centre, gives one clear, single learning pathway to becoming a Welsh speaker. All our courses are based on the curriculum, and the latest data reflects the success of this learning model.

“The Government’s plans to introduce a Welsh Language and Education Bill will create new opportunities for the Centre to share its expertise with other areas, and contribute to the prosperity of the Welsh language. This work has already started, with the Centre’s services for young people, and the wide range of provision for the education workforce, which we will report on in the next academic year.

“More people are learning Welsh, more are learning at higher levels, and new work streams are leading to growth. Our aim is to continue to work creatively to offer a wide choice of opportunities to learn Welsh.”

THE ROMANTIC story of the Welsh people who settled in Patagonia over a century ago is challenged in a new book, revealing a darker side to the establishment of Y Wladfa.

Written by Aberystwyth University academic Dr Lucy Taylor, Global Politics of Welsh Patagonia draws on archival sources in Spanish, Welsh and English to disrupt the myth that the relationship between the Welsh and the Indigenous people was built solely on friendship and harmony.

The publication brings in the voices of the Tehuelche and Mapuche people, and foregrounds unfamiliar accounts of the role the Welsh pioneer settlers played in Argentina’s nation-building project in the second half of the nineteenth century.

Dr Taylor, a Senior Lecturer in the Department of International Politics who specialises in Latin American studies, says the aim of the book is to present a more rounded version of the history and reveal just how complex settler colonial relationships can be.

“The establishment of a Welsh colony in Patagonia in 1865 is familiar to everyone in Wales. It was a courageous, heroic endeavour in many ways, driven by anti-colonial resistance at home, but it also saw the Welsh become agents of colonisation,” says Dr Taylor.

“In a contemporary Wales seeking to promote anti-racist policies, I believe the time has come for a candid reappraisal of what can be considered the darker side of Y Wladfa and to re-examine conventional narrative through a decolonial lens.”

The book makes it clear that the Welsh did not use physical violence during the settlement process and says their policy of peaceful engagement has often been celebrated and romanticised, especially when drawn in contrast to the use of physical force by ‘English’ and British imperial colonisers in other parts of the world.

“As a result, Y Wladfa has not only been viewed as legitimate, it has been deployed as an asset, contributing to Welsh strategies for cultural resistance and social renewal back home,” according to Dr Taylor.

“Yet Y Wladfa was undeniably fundamental to Argentina’s nation-building project and, while the Welsh pioneer settlement might have had its own agenda, it was also a key factor in the Argentinian Government’s campaign at that time to dispossess the Indigenous people of their lands, and assert their own sovereignty and capitalist modernity.

“My book invites readers to think beyond the conventional stories so familiar to us all, to listen to the voices of Indigenous people from the past and to consider Wales’s complex position as both colonised at home and coloniser in Pagatonia.”

Dr Taylor hopes her research will help inform the new history curriculum in Wales as well as contribute to wider discussions around decolonisation and anti-racism.

Global Politics of Welsh Patagonia (University of Wales Press, 2025) will be launched at the National Library of Wales at 7pm on Wednesday 2 April when Dr Taylor will be in conversation with Emeritus Professor Paul O’Leary from Aberystwyth University’s Department of History and Welsh History. Tickets are available free of charge online but booking is essential.

A 47-year-old man from Goodwick has been sentenced to jail after admitting to stealing his partner’s prescription medication.

Andrew Gibbs, of Allt Y Carne, appeared at Swansea Crown Court where he admitted taking four Pregabalin tablets from his long-term girlfriend on February 14.

Prosecuting, Alycia Carpanini told the court that Gibbs had taken the tablets while drinking in the living room earlier that day. He was arrested later that evening on unrelated matters, and officers found the medication in his possession.

During his arrest, Gibbs admitted aloud to police that he had stolen the tablets. He later confirmed the theft in a prepared statement during interview.

The court heard that Gibbs has a lengthy criminal history, with 35 previous convictions covering 68 offences. He had previously faced a series of serious allegations, including actual bodily harm and intentional strangulation against his partner, as well as two further assaults. However, those charges were dropped after the complainants chose not to support the prosecution.

In mitigation, defence barrister Dan Griffiths said his client had been cooperative with police from the outset and had already spent time in custody since his arrest.

Judge Paul Thomas KC imposed a 14-day custodial sentence for the theft, acknowledging the time Gibbs had already spent on remand. He will be released shortly under supervision.